Bowling ball attachment



Feb. 21, 1939. c MaCcHEsNEY BOWLING BALL ATTACHMENT Filed July 9, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ewen/07: CVoesZzwMMaa wesw 5 .c. M. M CHESNEY 2,147,907 BOWLING BALL ATTACHMENT Feb. 21, 1939.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 9, 1956 i113. zww j JJ and to suction is relieved by the action of the bowler at Patented Feb. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOWLING BALL ATTACHIHENT Chester M. MacGhesney, Uhicago, Ill. Application "July e, 1936, Serial No. 89,739

Claims. (oi; 273-64) of the present invention and illustrating the This invention relates. to. improvements in bowling ball attachments" and its purpose is to provide means for holding a bowling ball during the act. of bowling without the necessity of in serting the thumb and fingers in the holes which are usually provided in bowling balls for this purpose; It hasfor many years been the practice to provide bowling balls with two or three holes extending radially inward to receive the thumb and'one or two fingers of one handof the'bowler and the ball has been held in this manner during the operation of swinging the ball and delivering it onto the alley. This mode of holding and delivering a bowling ball is objectionable for the reason that, due to the weight of the ball and the rubbing action of the edges of I the holes on the fingers of the bowler, the

fingers become sore and make it difiicult to hold the ball, while the provision of holes in the ball prevents it from having a true spherical surface so that the margins of the holes injure the surface of the alley and also the surfaces of the pins, making it necessary to refinish the alley replace the pins at frequent intervals. The principal object of the present'invention is to provide an improved attachment for holding a bowling ball without the necessity of providing holes in the ball, this attachment comprising a handle and pneumatic devices by which the ball is gripped and held until .released. by the bowler. A further object is to providean improved bowling ball attachment comprising a handle and one or more suction cups adapted to be pressed against the spherical surface of the ball and to hold the ball by atmospheric pressure until the the desired point in the swing or delivery of the ball. provide a bowling ball attachment comprising a handle and one or more suction cups adapted to grip the surface of the ball in conjunction with a passage extending through the frame of the attachment and having means located adjacent the fingers of the bowler for permitting the par tial vacuum within the cup or cups to be relieved when desired. Other objects relate to various features of construction and arrangement which will appear more fully hereinafter.

The nature of the invention will beiunderstood from the following specification taken with the accompanying drawings, in which two embodiments are illustrated t In the drawings, Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of having applied thereto the improved attachment Another object of the invention is to a bowling ball bowling attachment illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a vertical section taken on the line 3-4.0! Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 shows a side elevation, similar to that of Fig. 1, of a modified form of construction in which two suction cups are provided for engage ment with the surface of the ball;

Fig. 5 shows a top plan view of v the bowling attachment illustrated in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 shows an enlarged section taken on the line 6-4 of Fig. 5.

As illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the invention comprises a spherical bowling ball ll), of the usual size and weight, which has a continuous unbroken spherical surface adapted to be engaged 'bythe bowling attachment H which is held in the hand 12 ofthe bowler. This attachment comprises a metal frame. i3 having upwardly extending arms 13' and la engaged by a stud M which is threaded into the arm I3 rubber having considerable resiliency and having an internal spherical curvature which is normally less than that of the surface of the ball it). This cup I6 is provided with a neck i6 having an annular flange I8 which interlocks with the depending stem I3 formed on the frame, pref- ,erablv by providing an 1 undercut recess in the neck I B and-a correspondingly shaped projection on the stem. I 3 as shown in Fig. 3. When the attachment H is applied to the ball Ill-by pressing downwardly against the surface of the ball,

- the marginal portions of the cup l8 are adapted to stretch and expand as the air is expelled and the. cup conforms to the curvature of, the ball as illustrated in Fig. 1. The ball is then firmly gripped and will retain its connection with the attachment II until the partial vacuumwithin the cup I8 is released as hereinafter described. For the purpose of giving the attachment H a firm support on the ball and permitting the bowler to guide the ball during its delivery, theframe It! may be provided with a rearwardly extending leg l3 which conforms generally to which engages the ears.

the curvature of the surface of the ball and which is provided with diverging feet I2 having soft rubber blocks I] attached to their under sides so that they engage the surface of the ball when the attachment Ii is applied thereto as illustrated in Fig. 1.

For the purpose of relieving the partial vacuum within the suction cup 12 at the proper point in the delivery of the bowler, the frame i2 is pro- .vided with an air channel having an opening which is under the control of the thumb or finger oi the bowler so that this channel may be opened to the atmosphere. The lower portion i2 of the frameis provided with an upwardly extending passage 12' which communicates with the interior of the cup I! through the aligning passage it formed through the upper part of the cup and this passage l2 communicates at its upper end with a transverse passage l2 which connects with a vertically extending passage formed in the arm ll of the frame. A needle valve I8 is mounted to slide vertically in the upper enlarged portion I2 of the passage i2 'and' this valve normally engages the seat around the upper end of the passage i2 to close this passage and its communication with an opening l2 which leads transversely from the lower end ofthe needle valve to the atmosphere. The upper part of the arm l2 of the frame is provided with a chamber I3 closed at its upper end by a plug it which is detachably secured in place by a set screw 20. A collar 2l is secured to the valve stem l2 in the lower part of the chamber l2 and a coil spring 22 is mounted around the valve stem between the collar-2| and the plug 22 so that this spring tends normally to maintain the needle valve on its seat. The upper end of the arm l2- of the frame is provided with a pair of outwardly and upwardly extending ears l2" between which there is mounted a trigger 22 having its inter- "mediate part plvotally supported on a pin 22 The upper portion 22 of the trigger is shaped to thumb of the bowler and the lower portion is bifurcated to form flanges extending on opposite.

sides of the stem of the needle valve I}. These flanges are provided with elongated slots 22'? which are engaged by a pin 2! projecting laterally from the upper end of the valve stem so that when pressure is applied to the trigger 22 in a direction away from the handle II, the needle'valve I2 is elevated against the compression of the spring 22, thereby opening the passage l2 to communication with the port i2 so that the partial vacuum within the suction cup I. is relieved and the cup thereupon releases its grip upon the ball II. The trigger 22 may be pressed by the thumb of the bowler at the proper point in his delivery of the ball so that the ball will be released on the alley at the right instant and as this release takes place. the blocks l1 carried by the feet l2 may be utilized to guide the ball as it leaves the bowling attachment held in the hand of the bowler. The ball ll maybe readily picked up while resting in the usual rack provided for bowling balls merely by pressing the cup it downwardly aga nst the surface of the ball while allowing the needle valve l2 to retain its normal closed position.

The modified form of bowli attachment shown ,in Figs. 4,5 and -6 differs chiefly from that previously described in that two suction cups are provided for engagement with the surface of the bowling ball and the control of the release of the partial vacuunLwithin thezsu'ction cups is effected directly by the thumb of the-bowler be engaged by the sequent operation of bowling without danger of injury to the g I of providing the bowling balls with holes or other into position.

ballpassing therethro without the use of any intermediate valve mechanism. 22 has applied thereto a bowling attachment 2i which is held in the hand 22 of the bowler. This bowling attachment 2! comprises a tubular frame 22 in the form of an inverted U-shaped member having a pair of depending arms 22' each of which is enlarged at its lower end as shown at 22 for connection with a suction cup 22. Each cup is constructed in the form of a portion of a sphere with an internal surface which has normally a lesser curvature than the surface of the ball 20. Each cup 24 has an upwardly extending annular v flange 24 which extends around and is secured portion 22 of one of The frame 22 is 22 extending tothe enlarged terminal the arms 22* of the frame. hollow and the internal passage ,therethrough communicates with each of the boss normally establishes a communication between the interior passage 22 of the frame and the atmosphere. When the bowler wishes to use the attachment II for bowling purposes, he-grips the handle 22,as shown in Fig. 4. and'places the-thumb over the mouth of the passage 22 and then presses the attachment downwardly aga nst the surface of the ball 22 with the result that the suction cups 22 stretch and flatten out against the ball with the result that the air within the cups is expelled and; the surrounding atmospheric pressure then causes them to grip the surface of the ball so that it may be picked up. The bowler may then deliver the ball in the usual manner while it is held by the attachment 2| and at the proper point in the delivery, the ball is released by lifting the thumb off of the passage 22 and thus allowing the partial vacuum within the cups 24 and the internal passages of the frame 22 to be relieved.

It will be apparent that with either-form of the invention any bowling ball may be easily picked up and conveniently held during the subflngers and without the necessity irregularities which tend to injure the alleys and the bowling pins in addition to causing the ball to be deflected from its intended course. This invention has the further advantage that all bowling balls may be substantially alike without the necessity of modifying any of them to suit the tastes of individual bowlers as has heretofore been necessary on account of differences in the sizes of the flngers of different persons. Any bowling ball may be picked up by applying the bowling attachment thereto at any point on the ball without the necessity of turning the ball over on its support to bring any particular part I forms of the invention have been shown and described by way of illustration, it will be understood that it may be constructed Although two in various other embodiments coming within the 70.

scope of the appended claims.

I claim: .1. The combination with a bowling ball, of a handle extending transversely to a radius of the As shown in these figures bowling ball and a suction cup careating with said 1 3. The combination with vi'rame having an I cated adjacent said handle ried by said handle and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball. a

2. The combination with a bowling ball, of a handle, a suction cup carried by said handle and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, and additional means carried by said handle for engaging sald'ball.

handle, a suction cup carried by said handle and said suction cup, and means carried by said handle for engaging said ball and guiding said ball as it is released from said cup.

4. The combination with a bowling ball, of a frame having an air passage therethrough, a suction cup carried by said frame and communicating with said air passage, said cup being adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, a handle carried by said frame and extending transversely to a radius of the ball passing thereth'rough. and means located adjacent said handle for controlling the admission of air through-said passage to said cup. v

5.'The combination with a bowling ball, of a air passage therethrough. a suction cup carried by said frame and communiair passage, said cup being adapted to be pressedinto gripping engagement with said ball, a handle carried by said frame, a valve for controlling the admission of air through said passage to said cup, and means 10- for actuating said valve.

6. The combination with a bowling ball, of an attachment provided with a plurality, of pneumatic devices for 81191 8 the ballattachment provided with a 7. The combination with a bowling ball, of an plurality of pneumatic devices for gripping the ball, and means forcausing the ball to be simultaneously released by all of said devices. 5 8. The combination with a-bowling ball, of a frame having a handle and having an air passagethercthrough, and a plurality of suction cups communicating with said air passage and adapted to be pressed into gripping engagement with 10 to said cup.

pressed into gripping engagement with said ball, each of said cups having communication with one of said air passages, said frame being provided with means adjacent said handle for controlling the admision .of air to said passages.

curls'ma M. mcormsm. 

